Doctor Stefania De Santis from ISPA-CNR in Lecce,Italy, will give a talk at the 11th World Congress on Polyphenols Applications.

According to Doctor De Santis, plant polyphenols consumption is encouraged in healthy dietary regimes due to their antioxidants and anti-inflammatory effects. These organic molecules exhibit numerous properties including phytochelation; the ability to create complex with metal ions. Among polyphenols, the team of Doctor De Santis focused their attention on quercetin demonstrating its ability to reduce dendritic cells (DCs) inflammatory cytokine secretion and antigen presentation following LPS exposure in vitro and in vivo.

Recently, they demonstrated that quercetin exerts these functions by affecting DCs iron homeostasis. After quercetin exposure, DCs export iron in the extracellular compartment and, at the same time, induce a genes pathway related with iron homeostasis and inflammatory suppression. Future studies are needed to address if administration of natural bio-chelators can reduce inflammatory cytokine secretion by intestinal resident macrophages and DCs, a crucial step to promote the resolution of inflammation and tissue repair.